New Zealand: New Zealand boasts of 4.56 breweries per 100,000 people

New Zealanders are a right bunch of hopheads, with more commercial breweries per capita than the US, UK or Australia, Stuff.co.nz reported on February 18.

A survey of the industry by the Brewers Association counts 218 breweries, making for roughly 4.56 breweries per 100,000 people.

That compares to just 3.04 breweries per 100,000 people in beer-mad Britain, 2.1 per 100,000 in Australia, and 1.96 per 100,000 in the US.

The brewing boom, and explosion in choice, was turning New Zealand into a beer tourism destination, said Dylan Firth, executive director of the Brewers Association.

"Kiwi beer is also contributing to our growing tourism market, with NZ$242 million being spent on beer by international visitors," said Firth.

"This is unsurprising as New Zealand has a growing reputation internationally as a beer tourism destination."

Tourism has not driven the brewing boom, however. Changing tastes of domestic beer-drinkers, who are drinking less, but higher quality, beer, was behind the country's brewing renaissance.

From the grain to the glass, the brewing industry was now worth NZ$2.3 billion in the year to March 2018, Firth said, with the numbers calculated by New Zealand Institute of Economic Research (NZIER).

This included brewers buying NZ$593 mln of goods and services from New Zealand suppliers, including ingredients like hops, transport, kegs and packaging.

"The New Zealand brewing industry uses NZ$15 mln of hops, with the majority of these grown in the Tasman region," he said.

That represented a third of the hops produced in New Zealand, with the rest exported to make beer in the US, Great Britain and Europe.

Only 10 per cent of our beer production was exported however, compared to 70 per cent of wine produced in the country.

Brewing contributed NZ$646 mln to government last year in GST and excise tax, and around 22,000 people were employed directly and indirectly in the sector, NZIER found.

"In the past few years we have seen a lot more excitement about beer and the growing range of styles and taste experiences it offers consumers; but to acknowledge what the industry contributes in an economic sense is important too," Firth said.

"We have really seen the shift in the last few years from volume to value, where consumers are looking to spend more on less," he said.

"We believe this is a positive trend reflecting a growing move towards moderation and a more mature and responsible drinking culture. We saw last year in the Ministry of Health Survey that overall consumption of alcohol was declining, but what we also see from this report is the value the industry contributes to our economy is still high."

The big growth areas for brewers have been high-price craft beer, as well as low alcohol, low-carb and flavoured beers.

And our local speciality is pale ale with just under half of all craft beer sales in traditional liquor retailing and supermarkets either a pale ale or an India pale ale, the association said.

The association was created to represent brewers, including defending the industry against law change that could damage its interests.

It's biggest two members Lion and DB Breweries produce nearly three-quarters of all beer brewed in New Zealand.

17 February, 2019